Soon after the dual earthquakes struck southeastern Türkiye on Feb. 6, many worldwide college students joined search, rescue and aid operations in quake-hit areas to lend a serving to hand to the affected residents.
Syafiq Mardi, 29, had simply completed his assembly with mates in Singapore on a sunny Sunday. The group finalized the goal of meals packets to be shipped to Türkiye, as Ramadan, a holy fasting month for Muslims, is simply across the nook.
“(But) it is a short-term plan and within the coming days, we’re engaged on sustainable donations to be a part of rebuilding Türkiye,” Mardi informed Anadolu Agency (AA) from Singapore.
A graduate of Çukurova University within the southern Adana province, Mardi first landed in Türkiye again in 2013 for research.
After learning Islamic theology, artwork and historical past, he graduated final 12 months underneath Türkiye Scholarships – a government-funded greater training scholarship program run by Türkiye’s Presidency of Turks Abroad and Related Communities (YTB).
Back residence, Mardi is concerned in volunteer work to ship aid, in money and type, for earthquake-hit individuals in Türkiye.
“As a part of Be Kind Project, a neighborhood Singaporean group, we collected greater than $20,000 (TL 377,720) in only one week apart from different essential objects together with meals and garments,” Mardi defined.
“Now we are working on a long-time project for education and social building activities,” he said, adding: “Now is my time to repay the kindness that I obtained in Türkiye. It is our means of expressing gratitude to the benevolent nation.”
Türkiye supplies essential funding, services for lodging and different actions for worldwide college students, starting from highschool to post-doctoral levels. Currently, there are over 170,000 worldwide college students pursuing varied levels within the nation.
‘Can’t resist serving to affected individuals’
From the Turkish capital Ankara, Sherhan Upahm Abas, 27, joined a bunch to assist individuals within the quake-hit area.
A local of Bangsamoro, a southern Muslim-majority autonomous area of the Philippines, Abas, together with a bunch that comprised college students from Malaysia, Bangsamoro and Indonesia, and a Rohingya, traveled to Hatay, Kahramanmaraş and Gaziantep.
“Whenever we’re in want, Türkiye is all the time there for us,” mentioned Abas, who’s pursuing a grasp’s diploma in data methods at Ankara’s Gazi University.
“It is not just about religion, we are brothers, we have to help each other,” he stressed, recalling his “sorrowful expertise” within the quake-hit areas.
“I don’t assume anybody can resist serving to these quake-affected individuals,” he shared. Led by the Türkiye-based International Youth Forum (IYF), the group distributed blankets, meals parcels, sneakers, photo voltaic panels and jackets amongst quake-affected individuals.
‘Türkiye supplied training’
Meanwhile, Aung Naing Shwe, 31, has not visited his household, victims of Myanmar’s persecution of Rohingya, since he arrived in Türkiye in 2018.
Shwe, a Ph.D. candidate at Ankara Yildirim Beyazit University, informed Anadolu Agency (AA) that he helped the quake-affected individuals with psychosociological wants. “I visited camps and talked to quake-affected individuals who wanted any type of psychosocial assist,” mentioned Shwe, who has labored for 4 years as a psychological counselor.
“Türkiye is supporting individuals in all places world wide, particularly our Rohingya group in each facet … be it medical or training,” Shwe highlighted, as he recalled assist prolonged by the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA), a state-run improvement support company, and the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) to the Rohingya group residing in Bangladesh.
“It has been very helpful for our people,” he said, adding: “Educating us is every little thing for a group like ours.”
Shwe, who can also be a YTB scholar, defined that quake-affected individuals want psychosocial assist as a result of some misplaced their mother and father and a few their properties and properties within the disaster.
“This is a traumatic occasion and we have to scale back such type of trauma from their minds,” he emphasised.
‘We want to help Turkish people’
Similarly, Musaib Afzal, a recent YTB graduate who returned residence to Indian-administered Kashmir, is busy serving to people and organizations within the Himalayan area which can be transport aid to Türkiye within the earthquake’s aftermath.
Recalling an emotional incident in Srinagar, the capital of Kashmir, Afzal famous he encountered a vendor who mentioned he had no money to contribute to aid work. “This is all I’ve, the child cups, please ship them to Türkiye quickly,” Afzal quoted the seller.
“We need to be there with Turkish individuals (in occasions of want) even with our small contributions,” mentioned Afzal, who has gained hundreds of social media followers for his digital content material spreading consciousness about academic, cultural and different alternatives supplied in Türkiye.
A graduate of Islamic sciences from Recep Tayyip Erdogan University, Afzal recalled the time he spent volunteering with completely different scholar and civil society organizations in Türkiye’s Black Sea province of Rize.
Working with native civil society organizations and scholar teams helped him perceive Turkish tradition effectively, he acknowledged. “It helped me develop deep communication with native Turkish individuals and see their love towards Muslims from different elements of the world.
“They are all the time there for us, wherever on the earth,” mentioned Afzal, referring to Türkiye’s humanitarian organizations together with the Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH).
In Kashmir, he guided individuals and organizations to contact the Turkish Embassy in New Delhi, India’s capital.
“Lots of individuals despatched assist via money donations,” he added.
Iraqi college students contribute
Amjad Yasir led a bunch of worldwide college students who traveled from Iraq to Kahramanmaraş and Hatay.
“We have based an all-Iraqi scholar group in Türkiye to help earthquake-affected individuals,” Jawdat informed AA.
He mentioned the group of round 50 college students works in coordination with organizations “again residence (that) ship us materials and assist us increase funds for the quake victims.”
“We drove to Kahramanmaras and Hatay at hand out humanitarian support. Iraqi college students made massive quantities of money donations to the Turkish Red Crescent in addition to to the AFAD, and helped over 1,000 households,” Yasir shared, including the group’s humanitarian work was coordinated by the Istanbul-based youth board of the Union of NGOs of the Islamic World.
The Iraqi group can also be shopping for round 1,000 tents that will likely be distributed to quake-affected individuals in Kahramanmaras.
Nigerian scholar understands quake ‘firsthand’
Ayodele Akin-Adamu, who research structural engineering at Dokuz Eylul University within the Aegean coastal metropolis of Izmir, joined a bunch of scholars to assist with the packaging and distribution of meals in Kilis.
Besides witnessing the scenario on the bottom himself, Ayodele mentioned that his journey to Kilis helped him “perceive the impression of the earthquake firsthand.”
“I left Izmir for Kilis as a result of I needed to assist the individuals affected by the earthquake in no matter capability I can,” he informed AA whereas his buddy Rizwan uz Zaman from Kashmir was distributing meals packages among the many quake-hit individuals. The duo has joined the Istanbul-based IHH, which runs one of many largest aid facilities within the province, near the border with Syria.
Ayodele mentioned working expertise with the IHH enabled the worldwide college students to “see how they function … put together meals, present short-term shelter, clothes and different important objects” to quake-affected individuals.
On Feb.6, the magnitude 7.7 and seven.6 quakes, centered within the Kahramanmaraş province, affected over 13 million individuals throughout 11 provinces, together with Adana, Adıyaman, Diyarbakır, Gaziantep, Hatay, Kilis, Malatya, Osmaniye, Elazığ and Şanlıurfa.
The demise toll from the huge earthquakes has climbed to 44,374, in response to the newest official figures whereas hundreds of others have been injured.
Source: www.dailysabah.com
